THE LAST SAXON KING

A teen boy discovers he is a time jumper when he ends up in Anglo-Saxon England.

Daniel Renfrew is a lonely 16-year-old, home-schooled by his professor father on topics that range from obscure historical facts and Latin verbs to hands-on lessons using medieval weapons. One day, Prof. Renfrew is confronted at home by a mysterious man who demands something from him. In the ensuing attack, Dad gives Dan a device and directions to follow, sending Dan back in time to England in the year 1066, when King Harold II is about to face his biggest challenge yet. There, Dan befriends Sam, who is also from the modern world. Dan learns that he and his father come from a long line of time jumpers pledged to keep the timeline safe. Sam supports those engaged in an ongoing war against a time-jumper faction bent on changing history. If he ever hopes to go back to his own time, Dan needs to put to good use everything his father has taught him to ensure history happens as it’s meant to. This first entry in a series following Dan on his time jumps is a mixed bag. Fun adventure and an interesting historical background clash with a narrative voice that sounds too young for the characters’ ages and too superficial to adequately explore what they endure. Gender bias against girls within the time-jumping community feels outdated. Most characters are assumed White.

Uneven time-traveling entertainment.